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LED Versus LCD TV

Let’s just start off this conversation about an LCD TV vs an LED TV with a blunt statement: there is no difference between the two. None at all. That’s because an LCD emits no light on its own. It needs a lighting source to shine through it to provide the color images that you get on your television screen and for most televisions that means an LED backlighting panel is often installed behind the LCD’s to provide that light.

Installing both, however, is an expensive proposition right now and today’s consumer is looking for the biggest, thinnest, cheapest television they can get. Because LED’s can light up in a variety of colors and don’t need LCD’s to produce light, you’re generally going to find an LED TV without any LCD’s at the store.

Let’s Say You’re Considering a Used TV

Although new televisions are generally 100% LED, a decade ago this wasn’t the case. LCD’s with LED backlighting were common, fighting with plasma televisions for market space as the DLP televisions began to decline in popularity. When you compare the crispness of an LCD TV to today’s LED models, you’ll see that the LCD model does come out ahead just a little bit, which makes finding one worthwhile for some folks.

The thing to look for in these LCD TVs that have LED backlighting is the style of backlighting that is on the television. Is it edge lighting? Or does it have backlit panels? The backlit panels are more expensive to manufacture, but they provide a superior experience – especially in televisions that are a decade old. The light bleeding from the LED edge lighting in the older models can be extremely bothersome and it detracts from the watching experience.

So What Should I Pursue In a New TV?

There are different forms of LED backlighting that are available today. The traditional white lighting is actually a blue LED that has been coated with sulfur to give it the white appearance. Because of this, the green colorizations that you see on the screen can be stronger than other colors during the watching experience.

There are also televisions that utilize three or four different colors of LED’s to create the images you see: red, blue, green, and sometimes yellow. This adds overall depth to the color spectrum and allows for more consistency in the color pattern. These multiple LED televisions are a little more difficult to find in today’s market, which makes them the most expensive out of the LED TVs that you may be considering right now – especially if you’re thinking about the purchase of a 4 color set.

So should you get an LCD TV? It does have a sharper picture than a straight LED television, but keep in mind that LCD TVs are also powered by LEDs. If you’re trying to get an LCD because you don’t like the idea of an LED… you might just want to go with plasma instead.

LCD vs LED

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